“It’s Minho and Kibum –” Jinki couldn’t even finish his state of thought as Taemin swept past him in quick steps, toward the couple. Not knowing what to do, Jinki also followed behind him, yet giving him space. To him, this situation was just all so confusing. The only things he knew were that Minho and Kibum were going out and that Minho and Taemin were brothers. Yet the gaze in Taemin’s eyes right now… they looked like a possessive monster. The once loud halls had suddenly turned deafeningly silent, with the only sounds being Taemin’s footsteps. Jinki thought he was watching a drama’s scene unfold. Minho and Kibum were still closely together – rather, Kibum had gripped Minho’s uniform to pull himself even further closer to himself.

As Taemin arrived right in front of the glorious campus couple, his eyes only were on Minho’s, with his older brother’s staring right back. Even with Key standing right there, it was as if only the two siblings were present in space right now. “Come with me.” Taemin spoke, low in tone yet still audible. At the same moment, Kibum’s grip on Minho’s shirt tightened.

“He’s not going anywhere without me.” Kibum gave a glare toward the young student, narrowing his eyes.

With a blink, Minho relaxed his form, staring at the students around them. “You all can… go to class, please.” As they did not move, Minho gave a small smile, causing them to leave one by one, just leaving himself, Kibum, Taemin and Jinki in the halls. Clearing his throat, he spoke again, calmly, staring at Kibum first. “Hyung, I’ll meet you in front of the school entrance like we planned after school, our date is still on.”

“Minho, I have study hall this period and so do you, come with me –” Kibum abruptly spoke before closing his lips at Minho’s dazzling smile, shutting up with a sigh. “Alright, if you’re not there promptly at two thirty, I’ll smack you.” And with another glare toward Taemin, Kibum left the scene also.

Taemin growled quietly, glaring at the disappearing figure before returning his gaze to his brother. “A date? A date?! You didn’t tell me about this. You promised we’d have our movie night tonight – you promised!” The younger sibling was not hitting his chest, weak in motions due to his disappointment and upset emotions.

“We will have our movie night. I never said anything wrong, I never lied.” Minho stated slowly, grasping Taemin’s wrists to pull his hands down. “If you’re that worried, you can come along with Kibum and I, we’re just shopping for some clothes, because Kibum wants some new fall jackets or something. You can even bring a friend, if you’d like. Possibly… that one, slinking around in the corner.” He muttered the last sentence, gesturing toward the direction where Jinki was peeking from behind a wall.

“He’s not – fine. Fine, I’m going with you two. I’ll even bring him along, since you insist, hyung.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And somehow, just like that, Jinki was caught up in this whole mess. And he sure wished he would have gotten out of it when Taemin had asked – well, more like forced, but – because the… double date of the sort was very, very awkward. At least, between Taemin and him, at least. Minho and Kibum were quite cute together, occasionally arguing over which top looked better or worse, yet still making up with a peck to each other’s lips. Taemin was just following them around, like a paparazzi just waiting for the two of them to make one wrong move.

“Hey Taemin! Look, look! Look at me!” Jinki grabbed a flashy, maroon bra, strapping himself down – the wrong way, starting to pose toward the younger with a cocky grin. “I’m a lady.” He gave him a wink, only to regret it when Taemin quickly turned back around to watching the couple. Jinki had tried to lighten up the mood between the two of them, at least get that laughter back on Taemin’s lips. He didn’t know why he had even agreed to this in the first place… possibly for the fact that he was slightly excited he would be able to go to the mall with Taemin, kind of as a… date. But he regretted agreeing to come here with Taemin at this moment because well… staring at his wall trying to do his homework seemed more exciting than this right now.

As the four of them exited one of the main department stores to enter a small shop along the vast mall, Minho and Key had their hand in hand, quickly moving into the store to stare at clothes again. With a sigh, Jinki followed behind Taemin, awkwardly just pacing himself not to get ahead to himself to try to stand next to him or anything. Here, Taemin started looking at clothes too, as Jinki just gave up, sitting down on a chair to just stare at the three of them.

“Wow, you four are all so… handsome and cute! My, my!” Jinki blinked up at one of the helpers of the store suddenly having talked, only sulking back down in his seat. The helper moved near Minho, scanning his body with admiration. “You could be a model, golly! And your face… very, very handsome. You could call noona, if you’re lonely, you know.” She quickly gave him a wink, as Kibum and Taemin both snorted, still sorting through clothes.

Minho chuckled, scratching his head. It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened – there were many girls that took interest in him. “Sorry, I’m… I don’t take interest in women, although noona, you are quite beautiful. I’m here with my boyfriend.” Giving her a smile, Minho stared over at Kibum, who stared back with a small smile.

The helper noona did not see this though, seeing Taemin and grabbing his arm. “Oh, it’s this one, right?!” Pulling Taemin toward Minho, she shoved Kibum away, placing the siblings side to side. “Oh my, you two look so great together! Like a painting! So perfect!”

Taemin smiled at the noona’s words, grasping his hyung’s arm and getting closer, enjoying the fact that she had said such kind words. Minho on the other hand, gave a little frown, pushing Taemin slightly to pull Kibum near, an arm wrapping around his waist. “No, my boyfriend is this one. This is my boyfriend.” He leaned over to give Kibum a kiss to the cheek, making the elder blush a bit.

The noona laughed nervously, giggling with her hands covering her lips. “Woops… I’ve made a terrible mistake! My bad… I’m so sorry!”

“…” And without a word, Taemin quickly walked out of the store, disappearing off into the mall. Jinki had seen tears just barely hanging at the edges of his eyes as he passed by. He blinked, more surprised at Minho not doing anything than Taemin running off – and also the fact that he was just continuing on with shopping, like nothing had happened.

Standing up, Jinki grabbed Minho’s shoulder, jerking him to turn around. “Hey – not to state the obvious or anything, but your little brother just left.”

Minho met his eyes, giving him a smile that made him angrier than anything. “I noticed.”

“Why aren’t you going to chase him? He’s your little brother – your little brother.” Jinki gnarled between his teeth a bit, somehow protective of Taemin suddenly, surprising himself.

“I’m not my brother’s keeper.” Minho coldly retorted, his eyes returning to a piece of fabric he was picking out for Kibum. “Plus, he’s old enough; he knows how to get home. He has a phone. He has money. If you’re that worried about him, why don’t you go chase him yourself?”

For the first time in his life, Jinki actually wanted to punch someone. Not just punch but beat up maybe, bruise this Minho-the-jerk’s face. Without any words no more, Jinki quickly did so, running out of the store, looking right and left. Taemin had already disappeared far off… where was he now? What had he been wearing today… he had dressed out of the school uniform after school and worn a… ah. That loose blue-striped t-shirt with skinny jeans that clung tightly around his long, skinny, legs… Damn, his legs were nice – wait. What was he thinking about? Taemin’s body? With a shake of his head to throw away the image, he quickly dashed toward the direction with more people, looking around. “Taemin! Taemin?!”

He pushed through the busy crowd, bumping into random strangers, not giving one single care about what kinds of curses they spit at him right now. His mission was to find Taemin – who knew what he was doing right now? He was worried for some reason, deeply worried. Something in his gut didn’t feel right –

“There’s someone stuck in the elevator, being held hostage by a gunman!”
“What?!”
“Someone’s stuck in the elevator with thief and a gun!!”
“The elevator’s stopped working – someone call 911!”